The Mystery Of The Star Of Bethlehem

The Mystery of the Star of Bethlehem
The Mystery of the Star of Bethlehem

For more than two millennia, the Star of Bethlehem,
which guided the Magi to the city where Jesus was born,
has been rousing the curiosity of researchers worldwide.

Detail of the 6th-century nave mosaic — which depicts the Three Magi wearing trousers and Phrygian caps as a sign of their Asian origin — in the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy. (photo: Register Files)
Solène Tadié BlogsDecember 23, 2019
“And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was…” (Matthew 2:7).
The Star of Bethlehem, mentioned in St. Matthew’s Gospel,
is one of the main symbols associated with Jesus’ birth,
embodying the light of hope of salvation in the midst of darkness.

But beyond its symbolism, this star is also an exhaustible subject
of debate as a scientific phenomenon.

Was it a historical event or only a pious fiction invented by St. Matthew?

And if it was a historical event, how can we scientifically
explain the occurrence of this exceptional astronomical event?

Such questions have given rise to many different interpretations
over the centuries.

Moreover, as it is difficult to determine with certainty
the exact year of the Nativity, a scientific explanation of the phenomenon
would also be a potential time marker to help pinpoint the date of Christ’s birth.
According to a calculation by German astronomer Johannes Kepler
in the 16th century, an extremely rare conjunction
between Jupiter and Saturn occurred three times
in the constellation Pisces in 7 B.C.,
appearing to observers as a single luminous star.

This would coincide with St. Matthew’s description
of the celestial body appearing, disappearing
and then reappearing to the Magi.

A century earlier, Portuguese Rabbi Isaac Abravanel
had already claimed that this specific kind of conjunction
triggered the birth of the Messiah.

This theory gained more credibility in 1925,
when German orientalist Paul Schnabel
deciphered ancient cuneiform tablets
from the astronomical school
of the Babylonian city of Sippar,
which described the exact same astronomical conjunction
in 7 B.C.

“This is a good theory,” Father Giulio Maspero,
a physicist and theologian at the pontifical University
of the Holy Cross, told EWTN,
mentioning other plausible scientific explanations,
including the possibility of a comet.

“Another theory, which may be shocking for us,
is that the star was an angel. So, no astronomy here,
but just a spiritual light that accompanies the Three Wise Men
along their path,” he said. Father Maspero
says this explanation is “coherent with the whole narrative,”
as Bethlehem was filled with angels who were
“proclaiming the glory of Jesus and announcing
to the shepherds what was happening there”.
There is also the possibility of an appearance of a nova
or the explosion of a supernova around 5 B.C.,
as suggested by several Chinese and Korean astronomer’s chronicles,
but this has never been definitively determined.

The Spiritual Strength of Mystery

For Brother Guy Consolmagno, astronomer
and director of the Vatican Astronomical Observatory,
the importance of the shining Star of the Holy Night
lies above all in the fact that it shows that the physical universe
can be used to get closer to God.

“We don’t know whether Matthew was intending
this to be a pious story to show that Christ
was even more significant than Augustus,
who had used astrology to say that he had to be an emperor,
or if he was describing a real star or a real astronomical event,
or if it was something totally miraculous
and we will never know until we can interview St. Mathew
himself and find out!” he said.

But if there is no definitive scientific conclusion
regarding the nature of the Star,
the mystery surrounding this story
makes it even more powerful for Christians.

Solène Tadié

Solène Tadié is the Europe Correspondent
for the National Catholic Register.

She is French-Swiss and grew up in Paris.

After graduating from Roma III University
with a degree in journalism, she began reporting
on Rome and the Vatican for Aleteia.

She joined L’Osservatore Romano in 2015,
where she successively worked for the French section
and the Cultural pages of the Italian daily newspaper.

She has also collaborated with several French-speaking Catholic media organizations.

Solène has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy
from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas,
and recently translated in French (for Editions Salvator)
Defending the Free Market:
The Moral Case for a Free Economy by the Acton Institute’s Fr. Robert Sirico.

CHECK OUT HER AMAZING ARTICLES:


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